Israel told Egypt and Qatar that it won't take part in another round of negotiations until Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists provide it with a list of hostages who are alive and a reasonable number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange.
Israel and Hamas appear to be far from a deal, which reportedly includes a six-week pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip, and the release of about 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The pause also would allow for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Palestinians in Gaza.
Egypt and Qatar promised Israel that if it sent a delegation to Doha this week for talks on the humanitarian aspects of the deal, they would get answers from Hamas on which hostages are still alive and put pressure on the group to be flexible on the number of Palestinians prisoners it demands to be released, Axios reported Friday.
But senior Israeli officials said that after three days of talks in Qatar, the Israeli delegation returned to Israel on Thursday without answers, according to Axios.
"The mediators promised that Hamas would give numbers and that didn't happen," an Israeli official told Axios.
The developments put a crimp in President Joe Biden's declaration earlier this week that a deal could be reached by Monday.
"There is no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which of the hostages are alive and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the 'ratio' that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage," an Israeli official told Axios.
Senior Israeli officials also told Axios they are waiting to see if U.S. pressure on the mediators and the personal phone calls Biden made Thursday with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar will compel Hamas to provide answers this weekend.